Greenpeace to Stage Protests After Russia Detains 30 Activists

By Henry Meyer -
Sep 27, 2013

Greenpeace vowed to mount worldwide
protests after Russia detained 30 activists from 18 countries
over the boarding of an Arctic oil platform.

Investigators have opened a criminal case against the
activists for piracy, a charge that carries a maximum prison
sentence of 15 years. Twenty-two campaigners were remanded in
custody for two months and another eight were ordered to be held
for 72 hours pending a new hearing, according to court rulings
yesterday in the port city of Murmansk. The detention orders
would be appealed, Greenpeace International’s executive
director, Kumi Naidoo, said in an e-mailed statement.

“I stand alongside millions of people around the world in
solidarity with the Arctic 30,” Naidoo said. “Their actions
are justified by the abject failure of governments around the
world to protect their people from the threat of climate change.
We will not be intimidated, we will appeal these detentions, and
together we will prevail.”

A crackdown by Putin on the opposition and civil society
after winning a third Kremlin term last year has provoked
criticism in Europe and the U.S. Ties with the U.S. are also
frayed over support for opposing sides in the 2 1/2-year
conflict in Syria and Russia’s decision to grant asylum to
former American security contractor Edward Snowden.

Arctic Sunrise

Russia’s Coast Guard boarded Greenpeace’s Arctic Sunrise
ship in international waters on Sept. 19, a day after two
protesters scaled an OAO Gazprom (GAZP) rig in the Arctic and towed the
vessel to Murmansk. State-run Gazprom plans to become the first
Russian company to start producing oil in Arctic waters at the
Prirazlomnoye deposit as soon as this year. Greenpeace activists
scaled the same drilling platform in 2012.

The activists include citizens of the U.S., Finland,
Argentina, Switzerland, the U.K., Australia, Brazil, Canada,
Denmark, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Ukraine, Russia, France,
Italy, Turkey, Poland and Sweden, according to Greenpeace.

The captain of Arctic Sunrise, American Peter Wilcox, was
in charge of Greenpeace’s Rainbow Warrior when it was sunk in
Auckland in 1985 by a bomb planted by the French intelligence
service.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Sept. 25 that while
the Greenpeace campaigners “clearly” aren’t pirates, they
violated international law by trying to seize a drilling
platform and alarmed officials who didn’t know who was
attempting to take over the facility.

Gazprom has accused Greenpeace of endangering the lives of
workers on the rig who were underwater at the time of the
protest action.

Several countries sent diplomats to Murmansk to assist
their nationals and the Netherlands asked Russia for an
immediate release of the Greenpeace activists.